Amazing, Spectacular Arizona Trail: Pleasant Valley-Upper Tater Canyon

Arizona Trail Backpacking: Passage 40 – Kaibab Plateau South
AZT Day 5, Part 3
Trans-Arizona/Utah Day 12, Part 3

In the land of Arizona
Through desert heat or snow
Winds a trail for folks to follow
From Utah to Old Mexico

It’s the Arizona Trail
A pathway through the great Southwest
A diverse track through wood and stone
Your spirit it will test

Oh, sure you’ll sweat and blister
You’ll feel the miles every day
You’ll shiver at the loneliness
Your feet and seat will pay

But you’ll see moonlight on the borderlands
You’ll see stars on the Mogollon
You’ll feel the warmth of winter sun
And be thrilled straight through to bone

The aches and pains will fade away
You’ll feel renewed and whole
You’ll never be the same again
With Arizona in your soul

Along the Arizona Trail
A reverence and peace you’ll know
Through deserts, canyons, and mountains
From Utah to Old Mexico
-“The Arizona Trail,” Dale R. Shewalter

Toward the end of the day there is a second encounter with another thruhiker, this time with Eric, the hiker that I encountered several days ago when he was headed northbound (nobo) to Utah; he’s now headed southbound (sobo). Hiking together for a stretch, Eric and I come to a golden tree tunnel of aspens where the trail bends away from the road, then descends into Upper Tater Canyon.

Backpacking the *Arizona Trail, descending into Pleasant Vall*ey
AZT Passage 40 (*Kaibab Plateau South*)
*Kaibab National Forest*

Golden aspens stand among green ponderosa pines beside the Arizona Trail — Aspen foliage passed hiking along the Arizona Trail
AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest

*Aspen foliage along the Arizona Trail*
*Hiking AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)*
*Kaibab National Forest*

*Panoramic aspen foliage along the Arizona Trail*
*Backpacking AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)*
*Kaibab National Forest*

*Panoramic aspen foliage along the Arizona Trail*
*Hiking AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)*
*Kaibab National Forest*

*Aspen foliage along the Arizona Trail*
*Backpacking AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)*
*Kaibab National Forest*

*Panoramic aspen foliage seen hiking along the Arizona Trail*
*AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)*
*Kaibab National Forest*

*Aspen foliage among mixed conifers along the Arizona Trail*
*Backpacking AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)*
*Kaibab National Forest*

*Aspen foliage among mixed conifers along the Arizona Trail*
*Hiking AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)*
*Kaibab National Forest*

*Golden tunnel of aspens along the Arizona Trail*
*Backpacking AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)*
*Kaibab National Forest*

*Aspens along the Arizona Trail*
*Hiking AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)*
*Kaibab National Forest*

Aspens along the Arizona Trail
*Backpacking AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)*
*Kaibab National Forest*

*Golden tunnel of aspens along the Arizona Trail*
*Hiking AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)*
*Kaibab National Forest*

*Golden aspens along the Arizona Trail*
*Backpacking AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)*
*Kaibab National Forest*

Upper Tater Canyon

Eric is moving faster so he presses on. It’s nearing sunset, but I can feel the breeze start to pick up and come up the valley. I have no desire to repeat last night, so exhausted as I am, I push through an extra few miles to reach cover. The trail crosses Upper Tater and ascends a ridge on the east side as it heads toward the east rim of the Kaibab Plateau. I spot a relatively flat camp spot beside the trail with some trees that can act as a wind fence and call it a day after about 17-18 miles just shy of the East Rim overlook where I hope to have service for my interview.

*Evening in Upper Tater Canyon on the Arizona Trail*
*Backpacking AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)*
*Kaibab National Forest*

Aspen grove in Upper Tater Canyon on the Arizona Trail
*Hiking AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)*
*Kaibab National Forest*

Aspens and mixed conifer lining the Arizona Trail climbing out of Upper Tater Canyon
Hiking AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest

Aspens and mixed conifer lining the Arizona Trail climbing out of Upper Tater Canyon
Backpacking *AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)*
*Kaibab National Forest*

Passage 40 Logistics and Ecology

Arizona Trail: Passage 40 Logistics

	Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
AZTA Passage Info & Map	Arizona Trail, Passage 40 Passage 40 Map
Trail Surface	Dirt trail
Length (Mi)	24.3
Season	Spring-fall. No vehicular access to this section December-mid May. Feet of snow in winter.
Potential Water Sources	Crane Lake (mi 46.5 SOBO, 742.2 NOBO) Little Pleasant Valley Tank (mi 48.8 SOBO, 739.9 NOBO) Wildlife Drinker (mi 56.5 SOBO, 732.2 NOBO) Dog Lake (mi 56.6 SOBO, 732.1 NOBO) North Canyon Spring (mi 58.9 SOBO, 729.8 NOBO) Crystal Spring (mi 59.5 SOBO, 729.2 NOBO) Sourdough Well (mi 62.1 SOBO, 726.6 NOBO) Upper North Canyon Creek (mi 63.9 SOBO, 724.9 NOBO) Full AZTA Report: Arizona Trail Water Sources
Trailheads	North: Telephone Hill South: Grand Canyon National Park boundary
Trailhead Access	North: Vehicular access via FR 241 off AZ-67 South: Foot access only
Wilderness	No, but it can feel like it. Most hikers in the area stick to the national park. Or are passing through to reach routes in the national park.
Possible resupply points	North Rim Country Store & Meadow’s Edge Accessed via FR 216 at AZT MM 54.6 S/734.1 N
ATA-Rated Difficulty	Easy
Potential campsites (mileages S to N)	Various
Ecosystems Traversed	Great Basin Subalpine Conifer Forest Rocky Mountain Montane Conifer Woodland

Logistical details – sources include personal experience, Guthook Guides, ATA Guidebook

Arizona Trail: Passage 40 Ecology

	Rocky Mountain Montane Conifer Woodland	Great Basin Subalpine Conifer Forest
Common Trees/Shrubs	* Ponderosa Pine * Southwestern white pine * Subalpine fir * White fir * Rocky Mountain maple * Bigtooth maple * Grey alder * Red birch * Red osier dogwood * Cliffbush * Mallow ninebark * New Mexican locust * huckleberry * bilberries	* Corkbark fir * Gambel oak * Quaking aspen * White fir * Blue spruce * Engelmann spruce * Buckwheats * Currants * Dwarf juniper * Elderberry * Fendler’s ceanothus * Greenleaf Manzanita * New Mexican locust * Perry’s rabbitbrush * Raspberry * smooth sumac * Snowberry
Common herbaceous plants	* fringed brome * Geyer’s sedge/elk sedge * Ross’ sedge * Bronze sedge/dry land sedge/hillside sedge/hay sedge/Fernald’s hay sedge * screwleaf muhly * bluebunch wheatgrass * Spruce-fir fleabane * wild strawberry/Virginia strawberry * Small-flowered woodrush * mountain sweet Cicely * bittercress ragwort * western meadow-rue * Fendler’s meadow-rue	* Bracken Fern * Buckwheats * Cinquefoils * Columbines * Fleabane daisies * Geraniums * goldeneye * Goldenrods * Groundsels * Hairy golden aster * Indian paintbrush * Lotus * Lupines * Meadow-rue * Parry’s bellflower * Peavine * Penstemons * Puccoon * Pussytoes * Thistles * Western & white prairie asters * Wild strawberry * Wormwood * Yarrow * Yellow hawkweed
Common Succulents	N/A	Prickly pear, occasionally
Aquatics	N/A	* Bulrush * Buttercups * Rushes * Sedges * Water plantains

Passage 40 Ecology (source: Arizona Trail Association AZT Guide & NatureServe). Only California and Texas are more diverse ecologically than Arizona.

Tags: Arizona, Arizona Trail, aspens, colors, fall, fall colors, foliage, Kaibab, Kaibab National Forest, meadows, National Forest, pines, ponderosa, ponderosa pines, public lands, quaking aspens, thruhiking, Trail, trees, USFS

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Amazing, Spectacular Arizona Trail: Pleasant Valley-Upper Tater Canyon